They have 30 confirmed candidates, limited support in rural ridings and just $150,000 in their campaign war chest. But the leader of the Alberta Liberals maintains his party could reclaim its status as official Opposition and secure as many as 15 seats in the upcoming provincial election. “In my view, we need a strong opposition,” David Swann said […]

Premier Jim Prentice is in the driver's seat as he prepares to steer Alberta onto the campaign trail a year early.
Prentice is almost certain to ask Lt.-Gov. Donald Ethell on Tuesday to dissolve the legislature and call a provincial election for May 5, ignoring legislation that sets the next provincial vote for sometime between March 1 and May 31, 2016.

In the new legislature sitting this week, the opposition MLAs circled Premier Jim Prentice like piranhas, trying to figure out if it’s safe to swarm him. Not quite yet, Wildrose decided, while the Liberals and the NDP gave it a tentative try. The noble notion of genteel debate wilted momentarily when NDP Leader Rachel Notley told the house: “After promising not to […]

The Alberta Liberals can’t afford to lose party leader Raj Sherman — because of his bank account, not his politics. Sherman donates generous sums to his party; so much, in fact, that a complaint has been filed against him for allegedly violating maximums.

The deadly outrage on Parliament Hill will change this country, not just psychologically but in other profound ways. It’s now a bit harder to be Canadian — harder to trust, harder to believe in blanket presumption of innocence, harder to enjoy public ceremonies like Remembrance Day.

EDMONTON — Installing fire-suppression sprinklers in seniors residences and long-term-care facilities is a high priority for the new Jim Prentice government, but it won’t happen overnight, says Seniors Minister Jeff Johnson. Johnson told town and city politicians at the annual Alberta Urban Municipalities Association fall conference the new premier has directed him to address the issue in the mandate letter he received after being sworn into cabinet.

Alberta Health Minister Fred Horne says the former policy of a Calgary fertility clinic to restrict patients to using sperm donors of their same racial background highlights the need for clear ethical guidelines as the province moves toward funding invitro fertilization. “This is a really good example of how when we look at this, these kinds of issues, it’s about a lot more than the money to fund the service,” he said Tuesday.

The Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives were neck-and-neck in fundraising during the spring, as Alberta’s political climate shifted significantly with two leadership races kicking into gear. New financial documents released Wednesday by Elections Alberta show the Opposition Wildrose raked in $680,740 during the second quarter of 2014, while the long-governing PCs took in $637,124 during the April-to-June period.

Four months after suggesting the cash-strapped Alberta Liberals may consider a leadership review, outgoing party president Todd Van Vliet said his team is now on solid footing. “We could’t fix the fundraising of the party and we had to make some changes,” he said. “People are prepared to go to their wallets for this party. It’s not just about ideas.”

There have never been poll results like this for Alberta’s governing Progressive Conservatives — ugly from top to bottom, never a hopeful digit, portents of doom in every column. For a premier and government heading into the legislature Monday afternoon, hoping to recapture some of the old mojo in a new session, this new Leger survey will be a deep, divisive downer.

Liberal leader Raj Sherman is calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to launch a public inquiry into the disproportional deaths of aboriginal children in care in Alberta. In a letter to Harper dated Wednesday, Sherman called the deaths “deeply troubling,” and said that under the Constitution Act, the federal government has the “obligation and responsibilities for the First Nation, Métis and Inuit population of Canada.”

“It’s a dangerous policy but I support it,” says Calgary Liberal MLA David Swann, in one of those classic utterances that can make you both admire and despair of the Alberta Liberal Party. Swann was talking about a party proposal to double Alberta’s gasoline tax, from 9 to 18 cents per litre.

Doubling gasoline taxes, banning private school funding, chopping tuition rates and legalizing pot. As Alberta Liberals gather in Calgary for their annual policy convention Saturday, party faithful will be asked to vote on an entirely new slate of ideas to become part of their official platform.

The Progressive Conservative party and Edmonton Oilers owner Daryl Katz have been cleared of wrongdoing in connection with a $430,000 donation made to the Tories during the 2012 provincial election. Premier Alison Redford claimed vindication by the Elections Alberta report made public Wednesday.

Alberta Liberals are pinning their hopes to new leader Justin Trudeau, in the belief his star power may be what it takes to loosen the Conservatives’ grip on the province. “Southern Alberta’s a tough nut to crack, but there’s going to be a lot of people who are going to do their darnedest to make it happen and I fully expect one of the most engaged campaigns we’ve seen in a long time,” Calgary lawyer and longtime Liberal Daryl Fridhandler said Sunday. “I think Justin draws people in, draws young people in.”

The old revenue bogey raises its ugly little head again, just before Premier Jim Prentice steps into the legislature chamber for the first time on Monday. This could revive Wildrose into a new frenzy of tax busting, and set a combative tone for the early days of the legislature session.